Introduction to Dynamic Semantics

25-29 June 2018

Description

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This course will provide an introduction to the study of linguistic meaning through the lens of dynamic semantics - an approach to semantics developed primarily during the 80s by Irene Heim and Hans Kamp. The central claim of dynamic semantics is that the meaning of a sentence consists of a set of instructions for updating the common ground. As such, dynamic semantics emphasises the flow of information over the course of a discourse, as opposed to concentrating only the meaning of a sentence taken in isolation. Starting from some basic building blocks, we’ll put together a version of dynamic semantics, and use it to analyse the behaviour of definites, indefinites , and pronouns. Time permitting, we’ll also discuss the dynamic approach to presuppositions.

Tentative course schedule (allowing for some slippage):

session 1: The formal semanticist’s toolkit

session 2: First order logic

session 3: Dynamic predicate logic

session 4: Predicate logic with anaphora

session 5: Presupposition

Background

I’ll assume a basic knowledge of set theory and first-order logic in this course. Elizabeth Coppock has put together a useful primer, which you can find online here.